How to say "clerk" in Japanese

• 店員てんいんJLPT N4approx.Common
  nounCovers the retail sense of 'clerk': an employee who serves customers in a store. If you mean a salesperson or shop assistant, this is the word you want.
  店員てんいんはその荷物にもつにラベルをつけた。↗

  The clerk labeled the baggage.
• 書記しょきCommon
  nounGlossed as 'clerk', but in practice it usually means a secretary or record-keeping official, so it is seldom the word you want for an ordinary office clerk.
  われわれの討議とうぎは書記しょきによって記録きろくされる。↗

  The records of our discussions are kept by the secretary.
• 局員きょくいんCommon
  nounA staff member of a bureau or post office, matching the counter-clerk sense of 'clerk'. Use it when the clerk works at such a public institution.
  彼女かのじょは郵便ゆうびん局員きょくいんになった。↗

  She became a postman.
• クラークCommon
  nounA loanword glossed 'clerk; office worker'. It can name the office-clerk job, but 事務員 is typically the more natural choice in everyday contexts.
• 事務員じむいんCommon
  nounThe usual word for an office clerk: someone doing administrative or paperwork duties as office staff. Choose this for the desk-job sense of 'clerk'.
  彼かれは一介いっかいの事務員じむいんにすぎない。↗

  He is nothing more than a clerk.

For a shop use 店員, for office paperwork use 事務員 (or 「クラーク」), for post-office/bureau staff use 局員, and 書記 mainly means secretary; pick by workplace, not by the English gloss.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 店員てんいんemployee (of a store)
• 書記しょきclerk
• 局員きょくいんclerk
• クラークclerk
• 事務員じむいんclerk
• 係かかりcharge
• 書き役かきやくclerk
• 受付係うけつけがかりreceptionist
• 事務屋じむやoffice worker
• 係がかりcharge
• 番頭ばんとう(head) clerk
• 掛かりかかりcharge